And spitting out
Hostility
To politics 'n' violence
Working out anxiety
Cholesterol
And silver hair
Sittin' up
And pushin' up
And pullin' up
And pumpin' weights
One hour a day
Three days a week
And dammit all
I'm fighting off the
Sandman anyway
Every day
One day older
Breathing in
The morning air
Pounding on the
Dusty shoulder
Running in
A battered pair
Of Nike-Air
Sinews churning
Hot lungs burning
Always take
A mile or two
To find the music
In the moving
Making magic
In the rhythm
Of my pace
Suck in one stride
Blow out two
Oblivious
Endorphin tripping
Arms outstretched
Triumphant ripping
Down the yellow tape
The finish line
Within my mind
Slow down anyway
And walk around
With mouth agape
Suckin' in the oxygen
Then stop and lift
The water jar
As though it were
An ice-cold beer
And pour it in
And over me
Cools me down
Walk the last
Half mile home
I'm running
From the Reaper
Check the empty
Mailbox for the key
Check the shrubs
Beside the door
Lift the mat
Ain't nothing more
Call to silence
Cuss and swear
Get silence back
Knock to silence
Ring to silence
Get no slack
The only sound
My labored breathing
Anger seething
And my footsteps
As I walk around
Behind the house
Ain't no one home
But me
Searching
For the Truth
But I
Don't want
The Truth
I'm searching for
The Youth
I've lost
Too many years
Gone by
But why
?
Why can't I
Squeeze out
Another year
Or two
?
Picnic table
Beckons me
Beside
The stump
I reach inside
Where I can't see
Pull out
The key
Jump up
And walk around
The front
And go inside
To shower down
One more time
Pop off the top
And do
Another brew
Remembering
Their homily
A runner has no family
They will not kindly bury me
I sit down on a step
To think a bit
Assuming their returning yet
Assuming I have not pursued
Eternal Youth
So long I've lost them both
To my contentious flight
Regardless of the Truth
I know waits patiently
For me
To stop
Might it be
That I've been running
In my head
For so damned long
To keep from dyin'
I've failed to see
My family is gone
And I'm
Already dead
And no one's
At the Funeral
For me?